A legit argument is you compare him into the top five of the NBA, which is "usually" consisted of 5 others: Wade, Lebron, Duncan, Dirk, and Kobe. Now I'll start by strictly comparing him to the other forwards: Duncan and Dirk. Duncan is better, I'm not going to beat around the bush. But the gap between them is becoming minimal. Duncan, being on a tier all on his own does everything to make crap players who can't shoot like Tony Parker become All-stars. But the other forward, Dirk Nowitzski, who just came off an MVP year (I think he should have got it in 06) is very much on Garnett's level. Garnett is a far superior defender on and off the post. Garnett is a much better low post player than Nowitzski, especially finishing above the rim, which goes along with Garnett's vastly superior athleticism. In terms of shooting, it's obvious Dirk has that advantage. But overall, as a player, I'd definitely rank Garnett above Dirk.
If your comparing to guards (tough thing to do) on the top five, you would compare him to Lebron, Wade, and Kobe. Now I could simply say "look at MVP" and tell you he is better than all three, but I'm not that ignorant. I'll give Kobe and Lebron the nod that they are currently playing better than Garnett, but again it's not by much. But Wade? Wade is having the same exact problem is Garnett is having, except that Wade is IN THE EAST! He is playing like the superstar he is putting up amazing stats but it isn't equivalencing to wins. Does that mean he isn't a winner? Of course not, he just freakin came off a finals MVP. But without real help, or coaching, you cannot win games.
KG's case? I'm not gonna start blaming the players, I blame Dwayne Casey for blowing all these close games by who he plays and how he runs his offense. Is it me or does Dwayne Casey love setting up crappy shots in the last 4 seconds of the shot clock? It's like he is trying to average 78 ppg and it pi$$es me off to watch and it's certainly not going to equate to wins much. Ricky Davis is good, despite my bias, I think Casey is a horrible coach at motivating Davis (Who isn't a Malcontent btw Geewiz). So yes, KG is still being KG, putting up insane stats like he always does, but without late game coaching, how are they going to win?
So basically my top five players would be consisted of:
Duncan, Kobe, Wade, Lebron, and KG. That's in no order or bias either
Winning? We're 3-3 since he went down, and our wins have come against a beat up Houston team, Minny (where we had to have a HUGE comeback), and a NJ team who've been playing like bum all year, and lost their only inside presence in the middle of the game.
Let me be the first to tell you, we miss Lamar. A lot.
Actually we're 4-3 without him, we beat Houston twice.
As for the topic at hand, Garnett is easily a top 10 player but probably not top 5, I'd rank him 7-8th.
Kevin Garnett is easily a top 10 player in the NBA, IMO he's in the top 5. He's a very versitile player, he a good rebounder, shooter, perimiter defender, interior defender, and he's a great shot blocker. It just sucks for him that his team is bad.
What has KG done recently that should put him ahead of those two, besides leading his team to a 7-point fourth quarter against the bench players of the Lakers?
I would trade the entire Twolves roster aside from KG and Foye(potential not current ability) for Shaq, Lamar Odom, Josh Howard, Tony Parker, Melo, Tmac/Yao, Marion/Amare or Vince Carter/Kidd. The guys who are the sidekicks/co stars for most of the guys considered near the top of the L. Pierce, KG, Arenas, and Lebron dont have guys like that. Well hughes is ok on the rare occasion he plays. But id not trade anyone I listed for him. AI didnt but we will see what he can do now. Dirk also doesnt have a superstar but nobody would trade Howard for Ricky Davis or Mike James. **** for Ricky Davis And Mike James. And thats forgetting the depth issue for now.
He just doesnt have what a star needs to get things done.
And on second though...Caron Butler and Jamison on offense enough are decent support. So forget I mentioned Arenas.
Last edited by Kblaze8855 : 12-24-2006 at 08:23 PM.
From a Kobe/Lakers fan, Kobe's teammates are much better than KG's are. And I'm pretty sure they've had it in them all along, all it took to get them to play the way they are this year was some trust from Kobe's part.
I somewhat disagree. It was partially that but moreso of them growing as a cohesive unit under the triangle offense/PJax and improving specific parts of their game. You could look at it 2 ways (and both are probably correct)...1) They were young/inexperinced and naturally would improve and 2) Kobe is giving them the chance. I go with #1 moreso than #2 because watching them last yr, they didnt run the offense nearly as good as this year...alot of them have had major leaps in parts of their game (walton's jumpshot, odom's consistency, bynum's maturation, kwame's aggressiveness). that said, theres also a trust factor there from kobe of course but the improvement comes more from them
back to the point of the thread, i stopped reading when it said cassell was the reason they went to the WCF
